City News ARchive
Enabling new interactions with the spaces we inhabit
NYT City ARchive is an augmented reality experience that anchors New York Times archive stories in the city’s streets, letting users explore history exactly where it unfolded.
New York Times Machine
Journalism is how we understand the world around us—it’s the lens through which we make sense of events, history, and the spaces we inhabit. The New York Times has a vast archive that spans decades, rich with stories that have shaped our collective understanding of the world, history, culture, and society, dating back to the 1850s.
Traditionally, this archive is accessed through a website, searchable by keywords and locations, offering a window into the past.
But what if this invaluable resource could exist not just on a screen, but as a layer over the physical world?
City as an Interface
As users move through physical spaces, they can interact with and discover news from the past, enriching their understanding of the environment around them.
This experience turns the archive into more than just a collection of articles—it becomes an interactive part of the world, connecting digital data with the physical environment in a dynamic, engaging way.
Commute Experience
The app provides users with an option of tracking their commutes and visualizing interesting stories users have passed by.
Articles are collected based on a user's preference, previously saved.
A notification system can also alert users of hidden stories they might have encountered on their paths.
Personalized Notifications
This information will be used to customize a user's experience with the app. By choosing interests, users get notifications whenever they are around stories they may like.
Users will get notified based on their previously set preferences as they walk past stories they might be interested in.
